The Angels have strengthened their depth chart today, with an Orr-esque addition to their all-time roster.

Ruth Webb was promoted to glory shortly after 8 AM on Sunday, May 4, in Palm Bay, Florida.  She enjoyed 81 trips around the sun. 

 “The thing is,” Ruth was unapologetically herself. She was a woman of faith, a devout wife, a loving mother, a sweet and generous grandmother, aunt, cousin, and friend. She loved to laugh, and was at her best when she’d leave a room screaming-laughing—breathless die to her humor. She had a restlessly inquisitive mind. She put others first. No one was a more hospitable hostess. She loved Christmastime and epitomized the sacred selfless act of giving.

 Ruth Evelyn was predeceased by her brother James Osterfield (1971), parents Frances and John (1999, 2001), sister Betty and her brother-in-law Stuart (2022, 2018), her brother-in-law, James Webb (2023) and by her husband Thomas (2016).

Ruth is survived by her brother Jack and his wife Barbara; her brother James’ children Cheri and Timothy and their families; her sister-in-law, Susan; niece Tanya and Adam Waldroup and their family; niece Nicole and Yanni and PJ Leontakianakis; her sister’s five children and their families: Andy, Beth, John, Joel and Tim; nephews Jason and Ryan Webb and niece Ashley Webb and their families; her numerous cousins and their children and their grandchildren. She is also survived by her three sons and their families: Pete and Gwen, Spencer and Holli in Dothan, Alabama and her great grandson Eren; Todd and Lisa and Christian of Palm Bay Florida; Kim and Jonathan Meade of Palm Bay, and her youngest son, Scott, of Titusville, Florida.

A life-long devoted follower of Jesus Christ, Ruth was a fourth-generation Salvationist, growing up in the church of the Salvation Army. It was there at The Lynn Massachusetts Corps that she learned to play the alto horn, and honed her talent for playing the accordion, a musical skill she blessed the rooms of her own home with, playing beautiful music on that dynamic instrument throughout her life. She attended both the Lynn and Salem Corps in Massachusetts, the Palm Bay Corps, and in recent years, was an active and avid member of the Newfoundland Canada Corps, to which she attended via iPad every Sunday.

 She was born in her father’s house on Grant Street in Lynn. The same house she grew up in - on the Chestnut Street end - a street that is one of the steepest graded settled hills in the known universe. The Osterfield home was just around a couple of corners from where she and her siblings (and later, two of her sons) attended High School - at Lynn English.

In 1967, Ruthie was living large in Hartford Connecticut, working for The Hartford Life Insurance Company and driving her metallic blue “66 and a half” Mustang about town. It was in January of ‘68 at a church in Enfield, Connecticut, where she’d meet her life partner, Tommy. They’d marry in ‘69, settle down at, and raise three kids in, her hometown of Lynn, Massachusetts. 

She and Tommy enjoyed vacationing at the Sunset Park Campground in Hampstead New Hampshire for three decades (88-18). She worked for Prudential in Boston for 18 years, and then at Eastern Bank in Lynn, and with Partners Medical Group at Lynn Union Hospital, and briefly at CVS on Boston Street in Lynn.

Momma’s dearest friend and most inspirational person of her life was Ms. ClaraLynn Lowman. 

“He Touched Me,” by Bill and Gloria Gaither, is her favorite song. She encourages you to listen to it. 😉

Ruth Evelyn Osterfield Webb’s final wish for everyone, is to always seek out the goodness in all people, and to spread the Gospel. In peace she undoubtedly rests. 

“Good show!”